Kindle in the Classroom

Are you twisting technology to use it to its fullest potential? 

This post is going to highlight the various ways one can access books on kindle and have a wealth of information and knowledge at the fingertips.I always felt that we as teachers have to change , evolve and redesign our teaching pedagogy every year, to customize the needs of the digital generation. It is befitting if we could use the mobiles, tablets and the laptops given to our students in a better way to suit their study habits and at the same time achieve the desired benefits. 

Well Kindle apart from being just a range of tablets with lots of pre loaded and downloadable books has also an application part to it. So those who do not have kindle devices still can have the access to all those thousands of books in kindle on any devices that they have. Yes the good news is that also on a laptop.

Again being an IB Physics teacher, I always keep looking for stuff infused with technology that can help me, my students and also my two sons who are now in MYP 1 and 2.  So an overview of how kindle can be merged into the curriculum in Sciences that we deal with in MYP and DP. 

In Sciences, the scientific method of research and experimentation skill is an important one that we try to develop in the students. At the same time we need to connect our content to various other disciplines and hence an updated awareness of the happenings in all the branches of Sciences is a boon for teachers. Moreover to infuse TOK into the content is another important aspect of classroom delivery in the IB. 

Keeping all this in mind and the time crunch that we always have, I find kindle ebooks an easy and economic means to have access to wonderful books. And till now I have not paid anything for the books so thats wonderful.

Well the above are the books in my Kindle library that I us for my classes as reference. The best are the CK-12 series which are updated constantly.

Few advantages that these books have:

1. They can open up as e-books in your laptop, tablets and mobile devices, so reading on the go
2. All the interfaces have wonderful dictionary to look up to the meaning of any word or phrase
3. Highlighting option with short notes to have all important parts sorted at one place.
4. And most of them is free or available at a throw away price. 
5. All the books sync in all the devices that one use 

So those who have not tried it till now, just start off:

If you are a laptop/mobile/tablet  user..

1. Visit http://www.amazon.com/ and make an account to open up a new world.
2. Go to kindle ebooks
3. Search the category of books and add to your library or send to your android/apple device.
4. Download it into the device
5. At the same time get Kindle cloud reader from the chrome web store for laptops
6. OR download Kindle for PC and sync and download books for offline reading

Kindle ebooks that can be used as references to support the teaching of IB Sciences...

In this context I would like to mention that some books which I found of great use ,especially for the middle school and the high school are the CK-12 series of books which really highlights various aspects of scientific research skills. Moreover this series of books explains what goes behind developing a theory or a law and the differences between these and hypothesis. Interspersed are innovative practical demonstrations.

And of course lots of fiction and non fiction story books and novels for my sons in MYP to explore.So what are you waiting for? Whatever device you have just make an account in Amazon, start using the resources and share your experiences with the worrld.

Exploring the various roles of an IB teacher

Are you exploring yourself  in the various role profiles of an IB teacher?

The last two weeks had been spent in understanding and setting into the culture of OIS. By now I get the feel that an IB teacher is actually an all rounder who can fit into various roles as the situation demands. In every school the roles that I had been given in the past helped me to discover a different ME, learn a whole lot of new things and realize my potentials. Hence I always look forward to a new role with the hope of shedding light on a different potential of mine. This post of mine is dedicated to all the IB teachers all around the world who deliver different roles with dedication and learn from each of them. Just a reflection that all the roles empower us with a new kind of wisdom, preparing us to face challenging situations.

In my present school I have to supervise two CAS programmes , one being that of service and the other action. I am fortunate to get both the activities aligned with my passion. The CAS Service project that I am supervising gave me the opportunity to visit with my student team to a Centre in Kolkata where I came across several little children who came from broken families, especially where the father was no more. Some of them had seen brutal deaths and were dealing with trauma. But an interaction with them revealed so many talented children who knew not only to communicate in English but also were very good instrument players. How smoothly they played their violin and guitar in tune to our OIS students. I really came out feeling so different in a reflective mood. There was so much to learn from these children , the most important being how to make the best use of your available resources and coming out as a winner. Even the way our OIS students taught them simple lessons of coordination and team spirit from music making was worth admiring. I guess my learning from the present generation just changes its form everyday.

Supervising the Action part was equally entertaining and informative. My team is the MUSIC MAKERS. Though I have never got any formal training on music but I am very passionate about singing. However this interaction with the team opened up different channels of knowledge gaining. Since I have students from Serbia, Poland, Bangladesh and India in the team, MUSIC will play a big role in tying us all together and I am looking forward to the kind of piece that is going to come out of it. But listening to some foot tapping music which had lyrics both in Polish and Serbian was mind blowing.Moreover I admired the ease and passion with which they played violin, guitar and tabla.

Well again I did try to mingle a little bit of technology into both. Students have been taught how to make websites in Google Sites and showcase their work. They are really excited. They are loving the editing by many platforms on it and to put up something on their own without a WEB DEVELOPER. also the privacy settings of Google Sites has given a new dimension. So looking forward to another side of exploration....

Skype Connectivity in the classroom

Connecting the previous passouts to the present batch students...

It has been a long time since I wanted to use the skype in my classrooms and really turn the class into a flatclassroom. So that learning was not just limited and confined to the walls of the room. I believe by now that a lot can be achieved by connectivity and so the best way to start off the same was to connect my previous batch students to the present ones. The interactive discussion would benefit both, I felt. The passed out batch could feel what it is like to be mentors and develop leadership skills. The present ones definitely would gain motivation from the previous ones.

Amit connected through skype...

As I had moved from Choithram International , my previous batch of physics students were not known to the present ones. This year in the exam of 2012, Amit Singhi had topped the school results and secured a 43, and thus is on his way to the London School of Economics. Second to him was Hemant Pankaj Pandit who is already in UK to join the University of Warwick. I am glad that they both accepted my invitation to connect and came LIVE into my classroom. 

Amit shared his experiences of being an IB student and how he had actually prepared for the exams, his TOK essay and EE. He emphasized on the following:

1. Reading the textbooks thoroughly, even between the lines
2. Referring to lot of web resources especially MIT lectures and other videos
3. Reading the newspapers and get used to the terninology used currently in BM and ECO
4. Writing a good personal statement 
5. Getting good letter of recommendation for the subject courses applied
6. Targeting a high predicted grade from teachers and working diligently towards it

Amit's score of 43 and his inspiring story really motivated the students .

Hemant engaged in a heart to heart chat with the students..

With Hemant next on board , joining us from UK , the interaction was a totally different kind. He highlighted that keeping a balance between having a good life and getting good scores in IB was possible and this gave our present students some respite. He said that if they are really looking forward to partying harder they should concentrate on their studies now, seriously getting good scores . The serious problem that he felt being an IB student was being motivated all the time inspite of all the pressure. The discussions were then open to clear individual queries.

I felt that the students could connect to Amit and Hemant as they had just passed through the stage that they were passing through.So what have the students gained from this interaction? Are you breaking barriers and connecting to the world. Soon will blog more about skype connectivity for my subject.....

Web 2.0 tools in my Classroom at OIS..

So does the use of technology in class increase or decrease the productive time of interaction between the teacher and students..?

Well , many a number of times I have introduced the discussion of using technology in class amongst educators whom I come across face to face or over the net. These educators are the ones who are not actively involved and connected using the twitter or for whom the mere concept of learning from social networking sites just DOES NOT HAPPEN. I am not criticizing them but trying to explain the sitiuation in which they are because till a few months back I was also in such a state. So this post is to motivate all those educators TO JUST MAKE A START SOMEWHERE.

Although its just been a little less than a year that I have started using twitter and getting connected to the good practices by other educators all around the world, I can already feel the tremendous impact that this has had on the way I use and integrate technology in my class. The best comment I got as of now from my students in my new school is "How do you do all of this at once Miss?". Well I just answer back that by using technology. In this post of mine I will share some of the multiple uses of Web 2.0 tools that I use in my class.

At first I would list why I use the tools?

• To save time in class
• To engage students using the laptops/ipads
• To make knowledge and information available at their finger tips by using their secondary devices such as phone
• To save loads of paper from getting printed and piling on my table
• To ease my work DEFINITELY
• To pass on updated content of my subject
• To ignite critical thinking and make students active learners
• To incorporate personalized learning in class

Using Edmodo...

As in one of my previous posts I had written that mu work of infusing technology at OIS started from using EDMODO in the classroom. Edmodo is a specially made secured platform for teachers, students and teachers. I have already made several groups for my DP and IGCSE physics students. So the first thing they do is log into the edmodo in class. This helps me to

1.  pass important documents to individual groups
2. paste web urls for them to open immediately
3. Paste questions open for ideas 
4. open up the process of peer review on thoughts
5. develop interest for the visual learners
6. post an assignment with a due date without printing it
7. let the student submit or turn the assignment
8. collect answers on edmodo and use the best ones on the active inspire interactive whitebloard flipcharts
9. above all to engage the digital generation in a facebook kind of ambiance without its nuisances

The above screenshot is of the answers of students from edmodo that I just put up on the flipchart. This motivates the kinaesthetic learners. And yes they do google for the difficult ones.

I feel that this process is actually keeping them mentally alert, involving them more in the content than compared to the process of me speaking and they listening or just opening the textbooks.

Using Edmodo during design labs for DP students:

I have often used Edmodo in my DP Physics classes during the days the students plan for a Design Lab. In such class there is actually no sound in my class and the whole class interacts with me just on Edmodo. Benefits are threefolded:

1. The thought process of each student is not disturbed by any sound
2. Still students can go on clarifying their individual doubts by posting on edmodo
3. A peep into what the other student is thinking by looking at their queries posted, the variables chosen by all tend to absolutely different .Hence a branched thought process is induced.

Using Google docs and dropbox in my DP Physics classes:

Google docs is another all time favorite of mine as it lets me in control of the class from my desk itself , letting me know which of my students are working and which are not. I usually create individual student folders in my google drive and in those folders individual word file is created and shared with the particular student with editing rights. 

Hence again on the days of planning a design lab or writing about a TOK connection with physics, I can exactly keep a record of the work and the rate of work of all students from the tabs. At the same time again write individual comments on the word files as the work is in progress. This saves a lot of time. Once the work is completed,the students just drop their labs in the dropbox folders which is again individually made for them and shared with each one seperately.

And obviously edmodo, drive and dropbox all have apps for android. So all the work is available at my fingertip for checking with my S pen of Galaxy Note. This makes my life a lot easier and simpler making more room for muti-tasking. 

Using Wikispaces and ISSUU...

Since I have been maintaining a wiki for my physics classes , my students never feel the lack of availability of resources. Every single resource that I use in class is available on the wiki for them for future refernce. Moreover this year onwards, all my class notes on active inspire flipcharts are being converted to e books and uploaded on my ISSUU shelf for students. This makes the students utillize the class time effectively and productively in solving quality questions rather than copying notes.

So please feel free to share what you are doing in your classroom.Is it challenging enough for the digital generation????

Important points for IB DP students

Presentation by Warwick University at OIS

Today there was a wonderful presentation by Ms Annie Brunt, Senior Liason Officer from The University of Warwick aided by the India Representative Ms. Kanika Marwaha. I was really looking forward to the kind of suggestions that would be given by them for our DP aspirants at OIS. In my previous schools I had seen DP Counselling sessions and University visits, but not something so specific from one of the top University of the world. The difference again is that at OIS we have a strong University Guidance and Counselling team who are actually trained by the IB to do what they are doing. My previous experiences had been encounters with some University Counselors who did not even know what IB actually meant.

But here we had a team of students who were already exposed to the requirements of entry to various Universities all over the world. Ms. Annie concentrated on few key points which students should remember while applying to the University of Warwick:

1. Not to wait for the final deadline but to start working for the documents much earlier
2. To have a very good relation with the teachers so as to get a relevant recommendation letter from them
3. Amongst the 32000 candidates who might all meet the entry requirements the line of differentiation is the personal statement and a lot of attention should be given in framing it
4. To chose different categories of Universities when accepting an offer letter, a dream one, a high , a middle and a low for back up 

She also discussed in detail the various courses available and the subject combinations at SL and HL required for the same. She did give a lot of emphasis on the "Personal Statement and discussed in details the do's and dont's of writing a personal statement. She showed a few examples due to which applications have been rejected in the past.

After the presentation the students had a one to one interaction with her to know more about specific requirements. Ms. Annie found Rit Chatterjee, a new student in DP2 from Bombay to be very focussed in the onset.

Overall a fruitful discussion which I am sure has sparked up dreams in many of the students at OIS. It feels good to be a part of such a dedicated and organized team of people.

A new aspect of doing things...

A new way of doing things or is this the way of doing things?

In all the things that is happening here as I am getting to set in the environment here, there are so many questions that come up every now and then. I always knew that this school was and is going to be different but then I also needed to reflect on what ways is it different. And in due course maybe also analyze how these differences contribute in the making of an individual and an institution.

In this post I am going to discuss three new things that I have come across:

1. Shape of the Day 
2. Tutor groups
3. Monday morning assemblies

Shape of the day..

I so much fell into love with this phrase without even knowing what it was? For those of who are wondering what it is , well it is actually the time schedule of the day which starts with an early breakfast at 7:15 a.m, would incorporate a set of two classes followed by short coffee breaks, a lunch of 45 mins followed by after school activities between 2 to 4. I felt the planning was really nice giving a lot of breathing space for the teachers and students.

Tutor groups...

The word tutor in India is actually associated with those teachers or people,giving personalized or group tutions ,after school hours merely assumed to be responsible for the academic results of a student . But this word and the presence of the turor group had a completely different meaning here. In this school we do not have the concept of classrooms or homerooms and so no classroom or homeroom teacher either. Whole school students are divided into groups under a pair of teachers who are the tutor teachers. The students necessarily do not belong to the same grade. They come as a mixture of various grades.The tutor teacher is responsible for the overall welfare and holistic development of each member of the group and they all work as a team in various activities of the school.   I felt this gave the younger group to interact more and learn from the elder group of students.

Monday morning assemblies

Suddenly one must be thinking why am I blogging about Monday morning assemblies.Every school has it.

But if you see the pictures above what do you notice ? What is the focus ? Not the background as to how it has been decorated or what Charts have been out up or what color has been used. The focus is the students and their thought process. As Mr. Regan had announced that the them of the assembly was LOVE ...we had all the tutor groups presenting on the same theme. But what made it different is that every group had a unique concept behind the representation of LOVE. 

It was so interesting to note that the students when left to themselves can come up with so many different approaches and perception to one theme. One group delved into explaining LOVE as perceived by various subject areas, whereas some went in to depict it as a sweet existence between a married couple. One group along with its tutors went for a song which was just an amazing way of hitting the critical thinking skills. Through the song the group meant to ask ,
"Do we actually practice what we preach? Do our words and action reflect on the LOVE?". .

And trust me the effort was on all from the students. Quite contrary in all the other schools an Assembly meant a teacher had to do all the running and if the assembly was not up to the "MARK", the students were called and told about it for not keeping up to the benchmark. I always wondered what was the benchmark? Something which was predetermined, dictated and had no scope of incorporating fresh ideas, probably.And forget about critical thinking as it was always suppressed by loud phrases of dominance. 

To sum it all the wealth of good practices is just getting uncovered everyday which makes me feel to blog even more of everything....So what new things do you discover in your school everyday? Instead of criticizing are you critically analyzing? Are you reflecting..?